Aetna and Apple: A modern day love story
Mega insurer Aetna usually makes headlines for its proposed merger with Humana, but as Bloomberg points out, the insurer is teaming up with a giant of the tech industry — Apple. The health insurer, which covers about 23 million in the U.S., announced that its 50,000 employees will be eligible for a free Apple watch and will subsidize the watch for Aetna customers. The insurer is developing apps for the mobile device that would help users to monitor their health, remind them to take medicines or enable them to contact a doctor. You know what time it is? Time to get a new watch. (drum roll here).
Doc’s orders: Ride one roller coaster and call me in the morning
Is the answer to the excruciating pain of passing a kidney stone just jumping on a roller coaster at your local amusement park? According to a new study, published this week in the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association, the answer is most certainly “yes.” Researchers with Michigan State University found that riding a “moderate-intensity” roller coaster did, in fact, help to facilitate the passage of small kidney stones. The test was performed using a 3-D model of a patient kidney, filled with urine and three stones of differing sizes, which was concealed in a backpack during 20 rides on the Big Thunder Mountain ride. Urologist Marc Mitchell, D.O., attempted to do so after seeing several patients who reported spontaneously passing stones after riding the coaster at Disney World. Reportedly, riding in the back of the coaster proved most effective, at a nearly 64 percent passage rate.
Three parents contribute DNA, a healthy child is born
There’s a fine line when it comes to altering births through DNA manipulation, but a Jordanian couple whose child was born using a controversial method had a good reason for doing so. The New York Times reports the couple used a method that involves taking genetic material from a donor in addition to the couple trying to conceive. The pair, hesitant at first, had given birth to a baby who died at age 6; the other at 8 months due to Leigh syndrome, which causes progressive loss of movement and breathing. The procedure was done at New Hope Fertility Center in Mexico because it’s banned in the U.S., and the baby boy is reportedly a healthy 5 months old. Richard Paulson, M.D., president-elect of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine told the Times that the ban on this method, “is not scientific, not rational, not evidence-based.”
Blood clots may end NBA star’s career
Miami Heat forward Chris Bosh has been dealt yet another blot clot diagnosis that threatens his return to the NBA. The Miami Herald reports that the former all-star was diagnosed with a blot clot believed to be in his lung. In February 2015, Bosh was diagnosed with a blood clot that stretched from his leg to his lung and a clot in his calf this past February. This recent diagnosis is believed to be related to previous clots. The condition has sidelined Bosh halfway through the year in each of Miami’s last two seasons. Miami’s coach Pat Riley said he believes Bosh's career with the team is over, according to the report.
